This weeks Beyond the WOD comes from former NFL Great and avid Crossfitter, John Welbourn. I frequent his blog, and this was a post from last week. Enjoy!!

John,

First of all I would like to say thanks for the awesome website and the wealth of information I found on it. I have a quick question for you, what is your opinion on soy milk? Would you recommend it for someone who can’t drink regular milk or should I stay away from it completely.

Thank you.
John Doe

I haven’t beat up on soy in a few years. In 2008, I launched a one man campaign on the CFB blog against soy and have not changed my thoughts. I had friend, (I stress “had”) which in hopes of being healthy started supplementing with soy. With each venti soy latte, he saw his muscles go soft and him go limp. Needless to say, a teary intervention resulted after he started lactating.

“Tofu was first used in monasteries in China about 2,000 years ago, in party to promote sexual abstinence, since the phytoestrogens in soy lower testosterone levels.” – Soy Alert!

The key problem with soy is that it contains phytoestrogens, which “mimic the physiological effects of the endogenous hormone, estrogen”. So by consuming soy products, you’re could be pumping hormones into your body like you are taking birth control pills. Now imagine you take your days old baby boy or girl and start pumping soy-based formula into him or her 8 times a day. The flush of phytoestrogens wreaks havoc on the surge of testosterone that happens in newborn baby boys. If your intent is to create a living Ken doll out of your boy, soy him up. I can only speculate on what the extra estrogen does to young baby girls.

“Because of their estrogenic effects, they act more like drugs in the body than foods. If your body needs estrogen, that may be fine. But for men, or pregnant (particularly vegetarian) mothers, there is evidence that even a very small amount of soy may contribute to problems such as low sperm counts or even testicular cancer and birth defects” – The Healthy Skeptic

When it comes to proteins, the only ones I consume and recommend are those with faces,souls and mothers. If your protein does not have a face, soul or mother than you should it avoid like a kid huffing bath salts.

But what is soy milk?

Soy milk is a result of grinding up soy beans and mixing it with water. While it has the similar amount of protein, 6.3 grams per cup, (plant based proteins) as cow’s milk, 7.9 grams per cup, the amino acid profiles are very different. Mainly, it has about 1/3 the amount of leucine of cow’s milk. And if you are a regular reader of TTMJ, you know leucine is responsible for the anabolic effect needed to build muscle. But it doesn’t stop there as researchers have long recognized them as a poor source of protein because the proteins found in soybeans act as potent enzyme inhibitors. These “antinutrients” block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for protein digestion.

Finally, if you can’t consume cow’s milk than avoid it completly. Just make sure to supplement your diet with meat, preferably from grass fed cows.